All in all, it was a good win on a day when the Eastern Conference landscape shifted dramatically.

And make no mistake, the shockwaves created in Cleveland reverberated throughout the conference.

Just how good the new-look Cavs will be come playoff time will be determined, but there’s no doubt the Raptors will remain in the hunt for first and perhaps home court for the balance of the Eastern post-season run.

The Knicks, lottery-bound once again, are predictably ill-equipped to match up with the Raptors, who would win 113-88 Thursday at the Air Canada Centre.

All 12 players in uniform saw the floor for the Raptors, whose well-balanced offence featured no player reaching 20 points.

By standing pat, the Raptors have basically said how they like their team and for most of Thursday night against visiting New York there was plenty to like, especially from the second unit and the energy it would provide.

Teams tighten rotations in the playoffs, but the Raptors’ unit is playing with so much cohesion and confidence that it’s hard to see any group of backups being able to match up.

There’s a generational player in LeBron James with the Cavs, an offensive superstar in Boston with Kyrie Irving, but there’s no better, well-rounded team than the Raptors.

Once the Raptors began to make shots from distance against the Knicks, the game turned in their favour, a dramatic turn that saw the home side pull away in the second half.

“That’s the analytical approach,’’ said head coach Dwane Casey of the need to drain threes. “We got off to a slow start, we can’t put ourselves in that hole, New York’s a young team trying to find themselves without some of their key players, you don’t want to get duped into that.

“Some of the three-point shots we had were good looks, again, some is about rhythm.”

For the third straight game, Toronto’s starting unit did not play a single second in the fourth quarter.

For the third time in four games, the Raptors made at least 16 three-pointers.

Toronto’s bench has been on fire of late, playing at a level that has caught the attention of everyone.

“The bench has been great,” said DeMar DeRozan. “For us, we know how hard they work, they are the first ones in the gym working every single day so we know when they do things like that it’s not surprising.”

DeMar and fellow all-star Kyle Lowry went a combined 4-of-21 from the field.

The only starter to find his offensive rhythm was Jonas Valanciunas, a sudden three-point threat who made two from distance en route to scoring a team-high 18 points on 7-of-12 shooting.

“They went in finally,” said backup guard Fred VanVleet on his team’s three-point shooting. “I think it’s just one of those things where you have to work the game and keep working the game and eventually something will shake free.

“Any time you go into a game thinking about blowing a team out, it’s not going to work for you. We just came in with a good approach and took care of things on the defensive end and kept working the offensive end.

“I thought they did a good job at being really physical and they kind of dictated that for a while but we were able to shake free there and make some threes the second half to kind of pull away.”

Tim Hardaway Jr., one of the few healthy pieces capable of taking games over for the Knicks, made his first three-point shot two minutes into the third quarter, a straight-away jumper that brought New York to within 10 points.

There was clearly a talent disparity between the Knicks and Raptors in the injury of absence of Kristaps Porzingas, but credit New York for putting up a fight and competing until it began to get away.

Whether it was head coach Jeff Hornacek getting teed up in the first half or the Knicks goading the Raptors into taking a technical foul in the third quarter, New York was going to make the home side work for every basket and force Toronto to defend.

The Raptors simply couldn’t make shots, missed 20 three-pointers with the score 58-52 in favour of the Raptors with 6:37 to play in the third period. When they began to find their stroke, it was game over.

It’s been a game of musical chairs for the Knicks of late, the latest involving Luke Kornet as he made his NBA debut at the ACC.

The big man can shoot the ball and he ended by scoring 11 points.

“Second half kind of just got away from us defensively,’’ said Kornet. “It was great to be able to go out there and play but you never want to lose.”

Losing has become part of life for the Knicks and there will be plenty of more losses to digest.

As for the Raptors have won four in a row, six of seven, with a game in Charlotte up next Sunday afternoon.

SECOND UNIT FINDING ITS RHYTHM

The word rhythm gets thrown around basketball as often as shots get put up, a common word when describing an offence’s efficiency.

Winning has a way of hiding any flaw and while it’s not necessary an indictment on Toronto’s starting five, the team’s primary unit has no rhythm.

At least when the Knicks came to town Thursday, Toronto’s first unit was upstaged by the second unit, a bench that is earning quite the name around the NBA these days because of the rhythm the reserves have developed.

All five mainstays off the bench, Fred VanVleet, Jakob Poeltl, Pascal Siakam, Delon Wright and C.J. Miles reached double digits in scoring, each ending the evening with a plus-rating of at least 18 with Poelt, Siakam and Miles each with a plus-20 or greater, a remarkable total that speaks to the effectiveness of Toronto’s reserves.

“Starters didn’t have a rhythm tonight,’’ said head coach Dwane Casey following his team’s 113-88 win. “We want to make sure we maintain they’re rhythm.

“We’re winning, they’re still an important part of our team so we have to make sure we find that offensive rhythm. It’s been hard for them to get one, especially when they don’t go in that last quarter.

“The second unit is playing the game the right way, they’re executing defensively, they’re getting after it. They’re assisting, I don’t know how many assists they had (18 of the team’s 31), they’re moving the ball, zinging the ball and making shots.”

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